New York, September 7, 2000
Yad Vashem
Department of The Righteous Among The Nations
POB 3477
Jerusalem
Israel, 91034We, at The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, as an organization whose aims are to enhance the solitary deeds of people like Raoul Wallenberg, respectfully ask you to consider to honor the name of Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli as a ”Righteous Among the Nations”.
[A] We are gathering information and preparing documents from many sources, for example (a) Correspondence between Chaim Barlas representative for the Jewish Agency for Palestine and Mgr. Roncalli Apostolic delegate in Istanbul, as quoted in the book ”Hatzaloh – 1976” by Chaim Barlas, (b) ”Pius XII and the third Reich” by Saul Friedlander, (c) ”The Politics Of Genocide” by
[B] Randolph L. Braham, (d) the ”Encyclopedia Judaica”, S.V. Roncalli, and more which not only show the tremendous efforts made by Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli but the underlying greatness of the man.
We are asking the Vatican to provide us with additional primary sources pertaining to Archbishop Roncalli’s tenure as Nuncio in Istanbul and his co-operation with Nuncio Rota of Budapest and Raoul Wallenberg.
[C] This letter was read for the first time at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, on September 7th, 2000 in the presence of Ambassadors, Rabbis, Clergy and his Excellency Vatican Secretary Of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano to whom this letter will be presented. We will start an international effort to get others to join us. We have recently spoken with Mr. Guy Von Dardel and Mrs. Nina Lagergren, Raoul Wallenberg’s brother and sister, and as you may know Mrs. Nane Annan, the wife of Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, is Raoul Wallenberg’s niece, and we all were inspired by the work of Angelo Roncalli, whose life we want to celebrate.
Baruch Tenembaum
Founder
Copie: His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Sodano
September 7, 2000
